Giants Need An Intervention, Mr. Mara — Now!

When a friend or relative has an addiction problem, they’re usually in denial and behaving irrationally — and an intervention is often in order. And although the NY Giants aren’t exactly a friend or relative, they’re most definitely addicted to losing. They’re also in denial and behaving irrationally. They need an intervention.

They seem to believe, if they just keep going through the same exact motions that earned them two Super Bowls in six years — admittedly, a tremendous accomplishment — they’ll be all right, even though the results of the last thirteen games, going back to last year, completely refute that belief. Their plan doesn’t work anymore but they won’t let go of it — and they have no plan ‘B.’

In spite of their 0-5 record — they keep rationalizing: they just have to practice harder, mustn’t point fingers, and must stay the course. Well, they’ve been doing exactly that since right before the Falcons game last year, and then, the Ravens game, and through training camp and through five brutal losses this season. Guess what, guys; you’re wrong! It isn’t working. But they’re addicted to their behavior and in total denial. That’s why an intervention is in order. Mister Mara, can you hear me?

Their refusal to make changes smacks of arrogance and complacency. A countdown clock? Good grief! They keep waiting for the old formula to kick in. But it hasn’t kicked in and it won’t kick in. It just doesn’t work anymore and it seems as if Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin haven’t gotten the memo. A new message to the team is needed — and it must be delivered in a different voice. Not by a different GM and not by a different coach. No! Just a voice with a different pitch. A different tempo. A different vocabulary. A voice of adaptation and change.

They don’t know how to adapt — or, worse, they refuse to adapt. Well, so did the dinosaurs. Two examples: Tuck is quoted as saying they practiced for Vick and when Foles came in, they weren’t prepared for him. Justin, are you kidding me? Why weren’t you prepared? Prince Amukamara echoed that same thing, saying the Eagles changed their offense after Vick went down and the Giants couldn’t adjust. Wow! What an admission! So, let me see if I’ve got this right: the Eagles did have the flexibility to adjust but the Giants couldn’t. Sad!

Look, Jerry Reese didn’t suddenly become a bad GM. His last two drafts weren’t exactly stellar — but they’ve been drafting later in the draft, which is actually a good thing. Otherwise, he’s been rock-solid. Tom Coughlin did not forget how to coach football and Eli Manning didn’t forget how to play quarterback. But this team is just too enamored with their past accomplishments and too arrogant and complacent to alter the way they do things. Hence: addicted, in denial and irrational.

Yes, there was a time when it didn’t matter if the rest of the league knew what the Giants were going to do, because the Giants did what they did so well, the other teams couldn’t stop them. But that was then and this is now. The league has moved on. They don’t have that kind of personnel anymore. But the approach of the brain trust remains exactly the same, as if things haven’t changed and they do have that personnel. In other words, they’re delusional.

How about doing things differently, once in a while? Yes, your offense worked well in the past, but guess what: the league watches film. Everyone knows you can’t run the ball, how about short passes in lieu of slamming your head against a wall? The slant was there most of the day on Sunday; then, you stopped throwing it. Did the Eagles take it away? Okay, fine. How about adjusting instead of going back to heaving the ball down field into double and triple coverage? Eli is excellent in the no-huddle, hurry-up, offense; why not employ it more — and not just when you’re behind, trying to catch up? Everyone knows your defense is predicated on rushing the passer with four guys. They know how to stop it: why not try a different approach?

One definition of insanity is doing the same self-destructive thing over and over again and expecting something different to happen — and addicts in denial are often exactly that delusional and irrational. Someone has to pull Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin aside — privately — and tell them to snap the hell out of it. The Giants need an intervention, Mr. Mara — Now! Please!

9 Responses to “Giants Need An Intervention, Mr. Mara — Now!”

This looks like 1964 all over again, when the fall of the Giants was sudden and absolute. The total collapse of this team does not bode well for either JR or TC. With the deficiencies across multiple units, I believe this rebuild will take more than 1 or 2 years to fix, as I am not going to ‘overrate’ the talent like the GM and HC have done. Big question I have, with either a #1 or #2 pick in the first round, would the Giants look for the next draft’s version of a franchise QB? Other questions, will ownership cut bait with TC? or keep him and ‘force’ him to change much of his coaching staff? Would TC want to return under such conditions? Will ownership cut bait with JR or keep him and ‘force’ him to get help, perhaps a Capology guy or someone to ‘share’ in player acquisition decisions? What ownership does next is really going to be a fascinating process to observe, if only it weren’t so sad as a fan to have to experience. Where did it all go wrong? I put my money on following the 2012 Super Bowl win, JR did not strip the team down and go into rebuild mode for 2012 and 2013, the glory of the SB win blinded all of us, certainly the fans, into believing only ‘tweaks’ were needed to maintain a high level of performance and winning results. As fans its expected, however, JR and TC should have known better. They believed their own Hype as much as we did.

For the remainder of this season, priority #1 must be getting Eli straightened out and playing to the levels of his talent once again.

I love this reply ans the article. 1964 was the start of a black hole that Giant fans from that era had to live with until 1981. Just with a mild respite of having Fran Tarkenton helped a little. There was no FA in those days so we had to live with the Larry Jacobson’s and Rocky Thompson’s of those drafts. When the Giants had no clue on how to build a team. How they kept Allie Sherman until 1969 just losing and losing, trading Sam Huff! God I am going to explode.

Well it’s 2013 we have FA don’t wait on making changes. We all thank TC for what great things he has done as Giant coach but now it is time to move on, sorry I feel bad too but winning is everything. Being 0-5 has robbed us of a season the Jet’s look like world beaters last night we will never hear the end.

DP I love your idea about JR he does not have the skills to handle this job the SB’s were Ernie’s teams not his. His best pick was Nicks in all of his tenure and He no longer cares about being here. (that is another story for another time) Bite the bullet and move on. Thank you.

Thanks Bob for the kind words. As you well know following the debacle of 1964 it took far too many years for the Giants to return to NFL relevance, let’s hope we don’t fade away once again. TC has attained such a high level of stature with the public that follows and supports the Giants with his two SB wins, that it makes it very painful to watch the team implode during his tenure. I have heard and read comments from Giants management suggesting TC could be here for as long as he wants or determine on his own when he is ready to step aside. I suspect the ‘unwritten’ phrase when making such statements would be “As long as he continues to win” – – so lacking relevance and wins, I believe all bets are off.

JR on the other hand has always placed his chips on constructing an overwhelming superior and dominating Defensive Line or Front. Seems to me that he ‘undervalues’ or marginalizes certain positions during the draft. However, no one can accuse him of overlooking the importance of the D Line. The problem this team faces is that the D Line is no longer dominating. Lack of a fearsome front four is now exposing the poor linebacker play and a pedestrian secondary. The front four was the key, in my opinion, to the Super Bowl wins. They kept the game close and in reach and then Eli and the offense were able to deliver in a manageable scoreboard situation at the end. Great we loved it. Fast forward to the present and the D can no longer keep the score manageable whereby Eli and the offense have time to develop rhythm and improve execution over the course of a game. Hence, Eli with the flawed pieces around him on offense is pressing to make things happen. The Giants prized unit, the D Line is just a shadow of their former selves and now so is the entire team.

I think some type of message must be sent to the team, I believe one that could be made would be if they continue to give up 30+ points a game would be to ‘change’ defensive coordinators for the remainder of the season. Another would be trade Nicks now before the deadline, perhaps a SF, ATL or Carolina may have interest and start compiling extra draft picks for 2014. I agree with you Bob about Nicks and he certainly will not warrant huge dollars from the Giants in my opinion heading into a rebuilding phase.

Check out this web site. You probably know it already. I am 63 yo. and I remember those dark years like they were yesterday. With no FA then we were destined to be awful until George Young arrived. With the Giants at 0-5 I just find it astounding that they are in this spot. I knew they were not very good but this bad has to be a shock to all of us.

I do hate to see Nicks go, I thought he was going to be a Star in the NFL, he still may be I just think he is fed up with the style of play and maybe a little jealous of Cruz. You have to get at least a #3 for this guy DP. You are so spot on with JR’s choices on the DL, JPP I am speechless. New culture I am afraid DP. I know JR is going no where but coaching has to be addressed as does talent acquisition. Thank you for your reply.

Finally – an article that tells it exactly as it is about the Giants – kudos to the author!
Would like to send this article along with thousands of signatures – perhaps an on- line petition or open letter to John Mara.
Only subject which is not explicitly addressed is the need to fire both Gilbride and Fewell ( as well as Tom Quinn ) for their shocking inability to adjust to what all of us who are not suffering with tunnel vision are seeing on the field.
Again, congratulations on a well written and cogent article.

Btucker. I think you are spot on, fans need to be proactive. We have to get a head start and not let this culture become the new Giant culture. Like rim the late 1960’s to the mid 1970’s fans wanted too long to really get Not we have Social media and can get something up and running in a N.Y. second. Great idea. Thank you.